VW and BMW fined €875m by EU for limiting emission technology

The European Commission said three German carmakers breached EU competition rules by colluding on emission cleaning for new passenger diesel cars

European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. File picture: Sam Boal

The European Commission said three German carmakers breached EU competition rules by restricting competition in emission cleaning for new passenger diesel cars, fining BMW and the Volkswagen group a total of €875m. 

The EU executive said the trio had colluded on technical development in the area of nitrogen oxide cleaning, but Daimler was not fined because it revealed the existence of the cartel.

"The five car manufacturers Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche possessed the technology to reduce harmful emissions beyond what was legally required under EU emission standards. But they avoided to compete on using this technology's full potential to clean better than what is required by law," said EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

So today's decision is about how legitimate technical cooperation went wrong. And we do not tolerate it when companies collude." 

Volkswagen said it was considering whether to take legal action against the fine, saying the penalty over technical talks about emissions technology with other carmakers set a questionable precedent.

"The commission is entering new judicial territory, because it is treating technical cooperation for the first time as an antitrust violation," the German carmaker said after being fined €502m. 

"Furthermore it is imposing fines, although the content of the talks was never implemented and no customers suffered any harm as a result," Volkswagen said in a statement.

Cleared of suspicion

BMW agreed to the settlement proposed by the European Commission, paying a €373m fine, saying it had been cleared of suspicion of using illegal "defeat devices" to cheat emissions tests.

"This underlines that there has never been any allegation of unlawful manipulation of emission control systems by the BMW Group," the company said in a statement. 

A settlement means companies agree to the EU’s charges in return for a lower fine and usually agree not to challenge the EU decision in court. 

Daimler avoided a fine for being the first to tell the EU about the cartel. 

All three companies could now face compensation lawsuits from customers.

• Reuters and Bloomberg